174 • Abolishing School Fees in Africa
into zones. There were a total of 315 zones, and each zone was managed by the newly created primary education adviser, who replaced the previous inspector and had both supervisory and advisory responsibilities.
IMPACTS OF THE FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION POLICY Implementation of the free primary education policy has markedly increased enrollment. Additionally, it has increased gender equity as well as equity in enrollment between socioeconomic groups. However, access to primary education has been achieved at the expense of quality, and the quantitative gains made through FPE have been undermined by the failure of the system to retain pupils once they have enrolled.
EFFECT ON ACCESS The introduction of FPE led to a massive increase in enrollments. Primary school enrollments increased dramatically in all standards (see figure 5.1). An additional 1 million children entered school, a 51 percent increase in enrollment from the previous school year. There was a remarkable increase in enrollment across all standards, with phenomenal growth rates in standard 8 (76 percent) and standard 1 (59 percent) in particular. The increase suggests that many children who had dropped out of school for lack of capacity to pay school fees reenrolled after the fees were abolished (see table 5.2).
Table 5.2 Enrollment Growth Rate by Standard following the Fee Waivers, 1991/92–1994/95 (percent) 1991/92 Standard
1992/93
Girls
Boys
Both
Girls
Boys
1
43.3
37.6
2
16.0
21.0
40.4
9.3
18.7
18.5
3
7.1
14.4
11.0
4
21.9
5.3
5
10.0
6
12.0
7 8 All standards
1994/95 Both
Girls
Boys
Both
0.1
4.6
54.0
64.6
59.2
3.8
10.4
31.1
41.4
36.3
18.7
4.2
10.7
48.8
54.6
51.8
12.3
11.1
8.1
9.4
45.8
52.7
49.4
9.3
9.7
7.8
7.2
7.5
45.6
47.0
46.3
7.8
9.6
4.5
7.2
6.0
45.5
44.7
45.1
12.3
8.1
9.9
0.1
3.6
2.1
51.8
43.7
47.1
⫺1.8
⫺12.8
⫺8.9
6.8
24.0
17.4
81.2
72.9
76.0
21.0
16.8
18.7
11.5
5.1
8.0
47.5
54.1
50.9
Source: Ministry of Education.